Self-supporting adsorbent materials comprising adsorbent particles and a binder are used in a wide variety of applications. Some applications however, such as pressure swing adsorption, are very demanding and currently available adsorbent materials lack sufficient strength and durability without high binder content. Pressure swing adsorption adsorbents are typically packed beds of adsorbent granules with different shapes that have many shortcomings. These adsorbent materials physically degrade from the damaging effects of pressure swing cycles. In addition, because of the high pressure drop through beds of granules, the flow rate must be kept low to minimize lifting of the granules from the packed beds. This high pressure drop also limits the allowable height of the adsorbent bed, which limits the time between pressure swing cycles, thereby reducing efficiency of the system. Replacement of damaged adsorbent beds requires the system to be shut down further increasing in use costs. Finally, the beads distribution may not be uniform resulting in low and high flow areas across the surface of the packed bed, which results in systems that must be larger than desired to account for large performance variations.
There exists a need for an adsorbent material and adsorbent pack that has high strength and durability, as well as high adsorbent particle concentration and high gas adsorption rate. In particular, there exists a need for an adsorbent material and adsorbent pack that is suitable for pressure swing adsorption applications, having high durability and high gas adsorption properties.